


Birthday

by A_Writing_Pen



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Gen, Ruroken Week, ruroken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-05 10:38:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1815517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Writing_Pen/pseuds/A_Writing_Pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a strange way, Jinchuu showed Kaoru what she meant to those around her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Day 6 | June 20: Death or Birth or Kenshin’s birthday or Kaoru’s birthday

Kaoru wondered if her 22nd birthday was what her parents had expected. Most likely, they thought she would be married, with a child or two, and uphold the legacy of the Kamiya Kasshin style. And all these things she had accomplished; she was married, had a son under the age of six and possibly another on the way depending on what the doctor said, and though it had been a rough time for many years, the dojo was holding fast to a strong revival.  But Kaoru Kamiya, or Kaoru Himura, had never gone about things the way most people expected.

Currently Kaoru was returning home from her bi-monthly training sessions at neighboring dojos. It was still a good way to drum up interest in her own school as well as keeping her own skills sharp, and it had paid off handsomely, strangely, because of Jinchu. Once the aftermath of Enishi’s revenge had finally settled and reconstruction was complete, word of mouth had spread that all the recent chaos in Tokyo was connected to the Kamiya dojo. But more than the unexpected attacks on the Akabeko and Maekawa dojo, the destructive rampage of an escaped prisoner, and a certain Ronin’s mysterious disappearances and injuries, it was Kaoru’s resurrection that got the neighbors talking.

Her very public funeral followed by her very public reappearance with a police escort and the capture of a high level black market arms dealer, left more than enough room for rumor and speculation. Every trip to the market that she made during her first month after her return was always a cause for stares that eventually became normal to her. And the dojo visits of the “Kenjutsu Princess” became an even more popular event with three times the attendance rate, since not only was the sword practitioner and her school somehow mysteriously connected to all the trouble in Tokyo, she had somehow also conquered death.

Walking past the docks, Kaoru could see the colors of the sunset reflected on the water. The scene looked the same as it had when she walked with Kenshin the night before Enishi’s attack on the dojo. The first time she had told him “I don’t want you to leave.” She stopped for a moment to watch that same water shine in golden hues from the setting sun and lap around the pier. The fishermen were hauling in their final catch of the day and tie up their boats. Parents called their children inside which was accompanied by pleas to stay outside. Yes, the place was the same, but everything had changed.

It was strange to think of deeply Jinchuu had affected her life, because it had meant her death. Or at least a form of her death. Only her friends on the boat back to Tokyo from Enishi’s island knew that she was still alive, with the exception of Tae and Tsubame. There was just so much that happened in the first few weeks, taking care of the injured, rebuilding the damage to their home, dealing with the police, that she hadn’t realized the impact of her fake death.

Those first few ghost walks through the market while Kenshin was still healing, brought a side of her fellow city dwellers that she had never known. On her first outing, a full grown man turned white as fresh fallen snow at the sight of her. When she walked up to the tofu vender, the old woman began chanting a prayer and her son sprinted away from the stall, while the rest of the crowd stared and whispered. She walked home without having bought anything that day.

The next day at the market, she was greeted by a swarm of the local venders, former students, family friends, and neighbors that all knew her.

“Kaoru-chan. Is it you! It it you!” she heard her old school teacher, now elderly with a hunched back and grey hair, ask.

This was repeated by the vender who she always bought her rice from, her father’s old drinking buddies that came by to visit when she was a little girl, students from other local dojos, and every other person who knew her. They asked her questions as to how she had returned, the funeral, and the strange happenings in Tokyo that coincided with her “death.”

She tried her best to answer their questions, leaving out Kenshin’s personal history with Enishi, and trying to say that it was all police related business. That day, she got all her shopping for free or at a sharply reduced price, which helped her meager funds stretch out with all the damages and loss of work caused by Jinchuu.

 After that, she could barely walk through the market place without someone making a teary eyed welcome home. Kaoru laughed at the memory. The children finally relented and went to their homes. The fisherman were pulling in the last of their nets. She picked up her pace and continued home.

At home she could hear Kenji’s voice as he giggled and squealed. On the porch she could see Kenji pulling Kenshin’s hair in one hand and waving around a flower with the other. He was waving it too hard and the flower had already lost half its petals.

“That hurts, that it does” Kenshin said.

Kenji only pulled harder.

“I’m Home.”

Kaoru placed her training equipment down on the floor. Both red heads looked up, Kenji still holding Kenshin’s hair captive, neither minded as they both smiled.

“Happy Birthday!”

Kenji held up the limp flower while pulling on Kenshin’s hair harder. Taking the near petal-less flower and admiring it like it was the most beautiful one ever, Kaoru distracted Kenji enough to let go of his father’s hair, who mouthed a small “thank you.” She picked up Kenji who clung to her. She hoped her 23rd birthday would be just same as her 22nd.


End file.
